


Sleep Like a Stone

by itsallonfire



Series: Your Love is Sunlight (Winter ATLA Femslash Week 2021) [5]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: :( poor lin, ATLA Winter Femslash Week 2021, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bending (Avatar), F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Long-Distance Relationship, Panic Attacks, Post-Season/Series 01, kyalin - Freeform, whoopsie kya and lin are finally together again but the circumstances are not ideal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-17 16:40:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29228622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsallonfire/pseuds/itsallonfire
Summary: Having lost her bending in the fight against Amon, Lin has been confronted with a way of experiencing the world that she’s never dealt with before. Kya offers some comfort.Prompt: Bending
Relationships: Lin Beifong/Kya II
Series: Your Love is Sunlight (Winter ATLA Femslash Week 2021) [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2138073
Comments: 4
Kudos: 71





	Sleep Like a Stone

**Author's Note:**

> I like to explore what might have gone down outside the canon events of the show, and so I thought I'd look at how Lin losing her bending might have affected her (and how Kya could be a reassurance). So, here you go! Have a lil bit of angst.  
> Rated T for some language and description of panic attacks.  
> (Title from the song "Long Way From Home" by The Lumineers.)

Lin inhaled deeply -- as deeply as she could, at least -- before setting a trembling hand on the door. The wood felt solid, and yet far enough away that she might as well have been at the end of the hall again. She shut her eyes in an attempt to steady herself.

Pushing the door open a few more inches, Lin said, “Kya?” Her voice caught on an exhale. 

“Lin?” A steadier voice came from inside the room. Sheets rustled. “Do you need something?”

Lin barely let herself peek through the crack in the door. Kya sat up in her bed, knees bent up to prop a book at a favorable angle, a thick fur folded at the end of the mattress for the winter. A pair of characteristic, gold-rimmed reading glasses sat nicely on Kya’s nose.

She looked too lovely. Too correct and good and in-place to disturb.

“I, um --” Lin shook her head quickly. “No. No, I’m fine. Goodnight.” She grabbed the doorknob.

Before she could pull the door closed again, her partner’s voice stopped her. “Love, don’t go. Do you need more blankets or anything?”

Lin leaned her forehead against the edge of the threshold, letting the cold of the wood center some of the spiraling behind her eyes. “No. I don’t -- I don’t want to bother you. I’ll get to bed.”

“Lin. Come in for me.”

A sigh, but Lin couldn’t bring herself to walk away. She nudged open the door and kept her eyes on the floor.

“Come sit,” said Kya. She folded up her book and set her glasses atop the cover. The contact made a dull  _ tap. _

Lin looked out into the hall one last time before nudging the door open enough to slip into the room. She held her elbows as she sat at the edge of the bed, but gripped the corner of the mattress as soon as she had sat. Shoulders tense. 

Kya looked her over for a moment. “What’s up? You don’t seem right.” 

When Lin tried to inhale in preparation to speak, a painful lump stopped up her throat. “I’m -- fuck.” She reached out to touch the nightstand and managed to miss by a good few inches. Her hands came up to cover her face, shaking. A heartbreaking sound of distress surfaced involuntarily from her throat.

Frozen for a second, Kya tossed back the covers and scooted closer on her knees. Lin’s hair fell in her face and Kya wasn’t quite sure if it was a relief or not to be obstructed from seeing the woman’s expression.

“Hey,” said Kya, as gently as she could while still being heard. “Can you tell me what’s bothering you? I’d like to help.”

Lin shook her head. Her hand fell to grab onto whatever it found, which happened to be the satin hem of Kya’s nightgown. She squeezed tight.

“No, I can’t --” She forced a trembling inhale. “I don’t think -- I don’t feel like I can breathe.”

_ Oh.  _ Lin’s behavior suddenly made sense.

“You can,” said Kya. “You can breathe, you’re just panicking.”

Lin’s hands returned to her face, fingers pressed together in front of her nose and mouth. Small speckles of brown dirt and blood had dried in the creases of her knuckles. If Kya hadn’t known the ordeal Lin had been through the last three days, she may have assumed Lin had taken up painting. 

Kya had encountered folks in the midst of a panic attack before -- shit,  _ she  _ had been once or twice -- but her heart crumbled a little more than usual while she watched Lin shake and cry like a wet possumkitten. Despite their long-distance relationship having persisted for the last several months, Lin seemed a hundred miles away even when she was sitting so close. Lin’s need for space made sense, but her choice to sleep in the guest room did leave Kya with a feeling of helplessness.

“Is it alright if I touch you?” asked Kya. “For some people, I think it helps.”

Lin’s nod could have blended right in with her trembling if Kya hadn’t been paying close attention. But Kya shuffled her knees closer, enough for her weight to create a dip in the mattress and encourage Lin’s body against hers naturally. Kya’s hand found a spot on her wrist and her other arm looped around Lin’s waist. She pulled the woman in gently but solidly. 

Lin choked out a breath and her hand scrambled of its own accord to find Kya’s. 

“Is this okay?” Kya ran her thumb along Lin’s hand.

“Yeah.”

For a minute or two, nothing but the sound of Lin’s quivering breath poked through the density of the room and Kya encouraged steady inhales and exhales with her hand, rubbing up and down Lin’s back, swaying from side to side with a rhythmic motion. She rested her forehead on Lin’s shoulder.

Kya was something Lin could finally feel -- not miles away like the ground outside the house or the ceramic tile in the bathroom or the granite countertops. She wasn’t made of stone or metal. She was warmth and flexibility and honesty and had big, elegant hands that Lin could feel. Each breath of hers seemed to fill Lin’s lungs, as well.

“Thank you,” said Lin, barely audible. “You’ve been so good to me the last few days. I know I’ve been a fucking mess.” She patted Kya’s hand. 

Kya kissed Lin’s shoulder and said, “I love you, Lin. You’ve been wonderful to me when I’ve needed help. I want to try and help make you as comfortable as possible.”

Lin nodded. “I just keep -- I keep remembering how awful it felt. And now I can’t feel anything.” It was the most simple way to convey the sinking emptiness in her stomach that had persisted since Amon’s thumb touched her forehead. Her senses seemed to float an inch about the Earth.

“Spirits, honey, I’m so sorry. I wish I could have been there with you.” Kya held her a little tighter. “I can’t imagine.” 

She didn’t even want to try and consider what it might feel like to lose her ability to bend, to touch a pool of water and be without the inherent oneness of her body and the element. It stung to think that Lin now experienced such a feeling every time she made contact with the Earth.

“Seems like you’re the first one to admit it,” muttered Lin. She sniffed and ran her hand under her nose. “Besides Korra. Everyone seems to be dead set on that ‘think positively’ bullshit and it only makes me feel worse.”

“You’ve lost a huge part of yourself, no one should deny that.” Kya took a lock of Lin’s hair and tucked it back behind her ear. “Mom and I will do what we can, of course. We want you to be as comfortable as possible.”

Lin nodded and ran her hand over her face, whispering, “Yeah,” as if the reality were a dull relief to hear. 

Kya pressed her cheek up against Lin’s back, her own eyes threatening to well up with gratitude. Lin was  _ safe, _ of all things, even with the circumstances. She was there and safe and breathing, and the weight of tension and worry that Kya had carried with her for days was finally beginning to lift. 

Letting herself let go, Kya broke away to meet Lin’s eyes. “You should get something to eat,” she said. “And some water. Panicking like that can really take it out of you.”

“Yeah.” Lin found her balance when she stood, still holding onto Kya’s hand as they found some sustenance to help get Lin’s system back in order. 

In the kitchen, Lin pulled Kya back into her arms and kissed her head. "I love you. I'm so glad I'm back with you again. Even if the situation isn't ideal."

Smiling sadly, Kya slipped a hand back to cup the back of Lin's neck. "I love you, too. I missed you."

Lin slept in Kya’s room that night, arms loose around the waterbender’s waist. She didn’t wake up in a sweat, no nightmares or attacks of anxiety. Kya gladly welcomed her partner’s warm presence again.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Leave your thoughts in a comment if you so wish. Oh, and I promise there will be happy things happening again soon in this series, I just had to let myself indulge in a bit of angst again.


End file.
